


Anything But Love

by Anonymous



Category: Shaun the Sheep (Cartoon)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Denial of Feelings, I want to apologise not only to God but Jesus, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mutual Pining, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Procrastination: The fanfic, Teasing, There's a plot I swear, Timmy's mom is Shaun's aunt here(so Timmy's his cousin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-02 10:29:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20714711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Bitzer finds himself in an uncomfortable spot, questioning boundaries and having to face inner doubts when Shaun is, for once, unable to solve a problem he got himself into alone.Shaun deals with his own feelings after that.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I may not be going to heaven but you, reader that clicked on this, ain't either pal
> 
> God I'm so glad I can finally post this, this fic has been in my drafts for MONTHS(reasons: I'm a slow writer, procrastinate a lot, the fic turned out longer than expected, etc etc). The next and last chapter is nearly finished so expect it in a week or two.
> 
> The writing may look weird here, I experimented a lot with the pacing and other elements of the story. It's also the first time I write smut so any feedback is welcome so I can improve.
> 
> As a warning I'll say that though there's no confirmed age for the characters, no one is underage here except for baby Timmy. Also remember this is fiction so please don't use this as a reference for sex(condoms and lube irl are important my dudes)
> 
> Anyways, obscure fandom, obscure ship. Hope that anyone who sees this considers it descent.

'Keep our flock away from the other sheep', that was the order the Farmer had given to him. Something simple that an expert sheepdog like Bitzer could get done perfectly in his owner's absence.

The 'absence' was due to an old friend of his visiting the farm. Both men haven't seen each other in a while and, if their non-stop chat was anything to go by, that meant that once the house's door closed behind them, anything of what happened outside would be Bitzer's problem only.

And so it was. The other man had already left his sheep loose at the other side of the field before following the Farmer inside, initiating what would be Bitzer's unwanted issue of the week.

It was automatic: the door closed, the flock started heading towards the new one, and Bitzer had to stop them right on the spot. As usual, he was able to shoo them away with a single blow of his whistle, once more having to ignore the received eye-rolls for doing that. Bitzer understood their curiosity, but he also had a task to comply with so, _off they go._

With some luck the flock will decide to not insist this time and find something else to do so Bitzer won't have to be near the other sheep that much. With no means of sounding rude, the other flock smelt like an entire bottle of perfume just got thrown at them, and not in a good way. It was too much for his sensitive nose, and enough to make him forget about politeness and cover his nose to avoid it. Bitzer could barely give an attempt of an apologetic smile to the ewe that huffed offended at seeing him do that before his lower paws took him away from there.

He ended up sitting on his previous spot under the tree again, glad that the smell didn't reach him there but also hoping that the Farmer and his friend would finish catching up soon. His day had been pretty good so far, and he wanted to keep it that way as long as possible.

As he said, if he was a lucky dog...

But he couldn't, not with a certain sheep's curiosity overpowering any common sense.

That sheep was Shaun, the one known for touching anything that had a huge 'don't touch' sign all over it. So _of course _he was going to take advantage of Bitzer being absorbed in his romance novel to get close to the other flock, and _of course_ that would bring huge problems later.

When the sky started turning orange, indicating it was getting late, Bitzer looked up from his book just in time to catch the leader of the flock both in the act and in an strange scene. Shaun looked uncomfortable, in all four even though there was no human around to see, and the other sheep appeared to be agitated by his presence. And to add to the oddness of it all, the constant high-pitched bleats they kept making indicated that it was an all-female flock.

It was not the bleating or his own shepperd insticts tingling that snapped Bitzer back into reality, but the well-known scream of the the Farmer sounding loudly in the distance. He was quick to get up then, barely managing to not trip that much while he ran towards the sheep to interfere. Though the sheepdog's whistle sounded loudly to shoo Shaun away, the confused sheep could only give a few steps back before the Farmer entered the scene.

The scold Bitzer received for not doing his job was short, but still got him to lower his ears in shame. After that, the Farmer went to help his friend to get all his sheep back into his truck(which Bitzer's nose thanked), and the sheepdog was left alone next to the fence with his wishes to growl at Shaun. He turned his head to do so, but couldn't at finding him still focused in the ewes of the truck. One of them looked back at Shaun, winked, and giggled to herself when that got him to lower his head and uncomfortably use a hoof to fidget with the grass. Though Bitzer was mostly confused by that, the small interaction still got him to frown.

One would think that after the Farmer's friend waved goodbye and drove away, there would be at least _one _explanation of what was all the fuss about, but instead Bitzer found more questions than answers. First with Shaun's gaze barely leaving the grass, and then his reaction with the Farmer.

The man had just stood in front of Shaun, humming thoughtful with a hand under his chin, and when he bent over to tried to pet him Shaun pulled away with glare and a bleat that in all means sounded aggressive. In a blink the sheep was in a defensive position, with his front legs bent and his back raised in a way that showed he was _not_ happy with the Farmer's presence.

Bitzer widened his eyes, but didn't interfere at seeing his owner mostly unaffected by it. Besides of looking a bit taken aback, the Farmer simply stood up and slowly took a couple steps back with his hands raised in defense. With some gestures and words, he ordered Bitzer to keep and eye on Shaun while he came back. Bitzer's saluted as best as he could, but the pure confusion he was feeling made it look kinda weak.

Okay, he _definitely_ needed an explanation now.

Right after the Farmer left, Bitzer directed his gaze at Shaun ready to demand an answer of why did he react like that(and against the hand that feed him! How awful); but again, he was left with the bark unable to leave his mouth. Shaun, who apparently broke out of the recent aggresivity, went from looking horrified by what he had done to shake his head with force, ears flopping with the movement. Whatever he was trying to get off him didn't, and it frustrated him enough to whine and hit his head against the wood of the fence and letting it lean there. Bitzer winced at how painful that looked, sharing a worried look with the rest of the flock when he spotted them walking with curiosity towards their leader.

Before any questions could be made, the Farmer came back, writing something down in the checklist Bitzer recogized was meant to be used the next day.

“Huh?!” The man's panic was instant at noticing the flock's presence, blurting out some 'shoo's' and making quick gestures with his hands make them leave. At only receiving confused looks, he let out a groan and changed plans. He gave Bitzer both the checklist and the pencil he had been writing with, pointed at a sweaty-looking Shaun while he spoke, and then at the trailer that was at the other side of the farm.

Confused and concerned bleats from the flock could be heard: Why was Shaun was being separated? Was he grounded? Since when could sheep be grounded??— To all that Bitzer could only shrug. _Wish he knew._

A salute, and a blowing of his whistle later to make them follow the Farmer towards the barn, Bitzer was finally able to turn towards Shaun and bark out the_ 'what in the world is going on?'_ that had been stuck on his throat for the past 15 minutes. Shameful for his need of answers, the only one he got was Shaun avoiding his gaze and simply starting to walk towards the trailer without a word.

Though he knew Shaun wasn't looking, Bitzer still stood there with his paws lifted and a frown showing both his confusion and utter offense. He wanted to say something, anything to get to not be ignored like that in such a moment, but at not finding any words Bitzer was only able to huff and follow the sheep instead.— _He didn't get paid enough bones for this._

Both of them walked towards the trailer in silence. Shaun didn't want to talk, apparently, and Bitzer was too immersed in his own thoughts to even look at the checklist the Farmer gave to him. Something was off; Shaun hadn't even tried to get up in two-feet since the Farmer left, which was weird enough, and to it added the fact that he looked like he was inside an oven. Sweating like that, walking with such slowness, and not even bothering to look at the dog at his side...it was worrying, the last part mostly(for reasons Bitzer didn't want to think about).

When the destination was reached, and after some struggles with the old trailer's door, Bitzer could finally open it to let Shaun in. Said sheep was too distracted leaning his head against the nearest fence(now of low groan added to his...thing he was doing), so Bitzer had to give a bark to snap him out of it. It worked, and with a shock of his head Shaun put himself togheter and starred walking towards his temporal room with the same slow paced steps from before.

A strange smell, one like the ewes had but way softer, suddenly reached Bitzer's nose, making him frown at not being sure if it was really there. He continuously sniffed the air, feeling the sweet scent getting stronger with every second.— It was attracting, the sheepdog didn't even notice when he bent over a bit to follow it. The source of it was close, really close, like it was right next to-

Bitzer opened his eyes to find Shaun's looking back at him with something alike horror. It happened way to fast, he heard a gasp and then there were stars and an unwanted hoof hitting his nose.

The loud cry of pain that left Bitzer was automatic, as well Shaun's reaction to quickly shut the trailer's door behind him. In a second, the sheepdog found himself alone looking at the door with a paw in his nose and a shocked expression.

They had had their arguments, fights that lead to not speaking to each other for a few hours(minutes actually), but those getting psysical was a _really_ weird thing to happen and it never evolved from more than one or two shoves.

This would be the moment for Bitzer to realize that something was wrong with Shaun, to remember that the leader of the flock would never do something like that. However, with his pride surfacing at being left without having the last word, his mind ended up going for other reasons.

As Bitzer rubbed his nose to cease the slight pain, his initial growl ended up becoming a soft whimper. The hit wasn't that hard, but it did not feel well emotionally either. With how Shaun had been acting, it almost looked like he didn't want the farm's sheepdog near him in the first place.

It was a paranoid thought, silly to think even, but with how awkward things had been between them lately...

Bitzer didn't notice when his ears lowered at delving into that topic.— How much had they been like that? Going from laughing their heads off over a dumb joke to avoiding each other's gazes for ending up being too close? Days, weeks maybe, and it was becoming difficult to act like it wasn't happening.

But Bitzer, stubborn dog he was, refused to acknowledge it. Not only because he didn't know if Shaun was even aware of it, but because of that awfully warm feeling that appeared every time Shaun's genuine side-grin crossed his mind...

It wasn't good. It shouldn't be there.

They were friends. Shaun was the leader of the flock and he was their sheepdog. They had roles to play and Bitzer could not risk that and their friendship like that just because...because nothing! There was _nothing_ going on, _and it was going to stay that way._

Bitzer shook his head at finishing the same speech he had given himself more than once. Like usual, it left a bitter taste in his mouth that he tried to ignore by thinking of something else. The pencil in his paw seemed like a good distraction to look at.

Oh right, the checklist.

Bitzer frowned at noticing it wasn't with him, patted his sides and back hoping it would be there, but at not finding it his gaze went directly to the trailer.

He had to facepalm.—_Of course it ended up being there, _his luck was just _that_ bad.

Ugh, he just wanted this confusing day to end.

\---

Exactly 1 hour, 30 minutes and 12 seconds had passed since Bitzer, with his pride raising up after being hit in the nose, left Shaun to deal with this thing he had alone.

Bitzer's free time at night was usually spent in stress-relieving stuff: reading, listening to music, or enjoying a good cup of tea(not in the hour he should but it was a lil treat he liked to give himself). He wished this night could have been like that too, yet the worrying thoughts that kept plaguing his mind wanted otherwise.

Something happened to Shaun, since it wasn't until he encountered those ewes that he started to act so strange. The more Bitzer thought about it, the less sense his previous theories made. Not only did he became aggressive out of the blue(to both the Farmer and him), but he also looked confused after doing it. And then there was that..._that sweet scent_...

For the 5th time in the past hour, Bitzer had to use his paws to stop his sniffing nose from trying to reach that smell. While his tail wagged, one of his lower paws started tapping the floor of his doghouse erratically at feeling that uneasy rush of energy climb through his spine again.

Bitzer whined in frustration.—_Why couldn't he relax?_ Sleeping time was near and he hadn't stopped feeling like that since he left the trailer!  
Maybe it was the worry? Or the fact that he was anxious to see Shau- _the checklist._ Yeah, that had to be why he wanted to go back to the trailer so much, to get back the Farmer's checklist. Sounded legit.

His logical side was telling him once again to not, to leave Shaun alone and not get involved in something he may regret, but what could he lose? It was only going to retrieve the checklist and see how Shaun was doing since he was there. He was a sheepdog, it was his job to make sure that the sheep were fine, and Shaun clearly wasn't fine.

With every second that passed the plan sounded more and more appealing, and in less than a minute the sheepdog found his logical side deciding to call it quits with him.

Leaving his sleep inducing herbal tea(that didn't work) abandoned in the table, Bitzer rushed towards his bookcase to get his medical book. In less than a minute he was outside, not walking, but _running_ in the middle of the dark towards his destination.

The trailer looked as old as ever, with the same trash dispersed around it and practically screaming to get cleaned up, but all the sheepdog could focus on was the angelical halo that was now surrounding it(probably because it was the only light on at this time of night, but still, _angelical_).

Bitzer knocked on the metalic door, and in the few seconds of await his lower paw was already tapping the dirt impatiently. No answer came, so he decided to open it to peck his head inside. Some sort of muffled whine received him, making Bitzer turn his head to the right and arch a brow at the thing that was turning uncomfortably under a blanket on the bed.

Confused, Bitzer stepped into the trailer and closed the door behind him. This seemed to call the attention of the owner of the bed, who pecked its widened eyes out of the blanket to look at the intruder. Bitzer's paw twitched at recognizing those eyes and bits of wool as Shaun's.

Control, Bitzer, _control__. _

Struggling to ignore the smallest bit of scent that reached his nose, Bitzer let out a 'ruff?' as he shook the medical book he brought, indicating his intentions of trying to guess what was happening to the leader of the flock. That would be a good moment to demand an apology for what happened moments ago, but for some reason he couldn't even remember it right now.

After giving a long stare, Shaun's only answer was to quickly hide himself under the blanket and give his back to the dog. Bitzer rolled his eyes at this, but still decided to go lean his back against the closet at the end of the bed and continue with what he went there for. That feeling of uneasiness was creeping through him again, but as he opened the book, he did his best to kept it in only in his tapping lower-paw and drumming fingers.

Shaun had sighed softly when he got asked for symptoms listed on the book, but all the questions anyways. Half of the diseases in the pages were already rejected in a matter of minutes, most of them being gross psychical stuff that Shaun, with stuttering bleats that he couldn't hide very well, insisted weren't there. It was when Bitzer reached the final third of the book that he finally saw a possible answer.

A drawing of a man lying in bed covered in sheets and sweat. Some symptoms like coughing and running nose were drawn below, but the most notable were the ones that represented exhaustion and fever.

So that was it? A case of 'the flu' that was slowly developing? Well that would explain why the Farmer wanted to separate Shaun from the rest of the flock.

Maybe he should have bought a mask for his snout before coming. Besides of being in danger of being infected, not having anything covering his nose was making it very difficult to ignore the sweetness in the air. Where was it coming from anyway?

Bitzer shook his head.— For chew toys' sake, Bitzer,_ focus!_

Attempting to do so_, _Bitzer got close to where Shaun was and showed him the page of the book that may be of help. The sheep turned with difficulty, uncovering his face just enough to look at it with doubt. After a moment, he ended up with giving out an awkward smile and a nod. Bitzer let out another 'ruff?' as he tapped the small drawing of a thermometer with high temperature to make the final question. He expected to hear a 'no', since he had noticed the blanket shivering a couple times, but after a long pause where Shaun for one second appeared to have witnessed a ghost, a hoof was freed from the fabric to make a so-so gesture.

Bitzer arched a brow. The smile Shaun was making looked forced, and it gave the sheepdog the feeling that there was something he wasn't being told of. Concerned about that, he closed the book with a loud 'thud' and placed it in the nightstand next to the lamp. For some reason Shaun tensed when Bitzer took a seat in the edge of the bed, his eyes widened looking at Bitzer's lifted a paw getting close to him.

The apparent fear from before quickly drew away once the paw came in contact with the sheep's forehead. Shaun relaxed at the touch, practically melting against the mattress as he closed his eyes and sigued through his nostrils. This got Bitzer to smile a bit too tenderly for his own liking, so he tried hard to ignore his wagging tail _and_ the scent that seemed to have become stronger by keeping his attention only in the temperature of the skin. It was hot.

Bitzer's gaze explored the room, wondering if there was any cloth to dampen that his friend's(repeat, _friend_) forehead could use. From the corner of his eye he spotted something pecking out from under the pillow. Turning his head towards it, he realized it was the checklist he forgot there.

Oh right, he came here for that.

His paw left the warm skin to go reach for the object, but got stopped by a hoof grabbing Bitzer's wrist when he was close to touching it. The sheepdog blinked at Shaun, who had left half of his torso out of the blanket to look at him with horror. Still maintaining eye contact, Bitzer tried to reach the checklist with his other paw, only to once again get stopped by another hoof.

Before any of them realized, they were involved in a poor excuse of a fight that consisted mostly in smacking the air and trying to stop the other from grabbing the object first. It wasn't until Bitzer(who's hat ended on the floor in the middle of all it) got to pin Shaun firmly by the shoulders against the bed that he finally got to grab and see the checklist in his paw, a triumphant 'aha!' leaving his mouth.

The adrenaline of the moment then slowly faded, giving the sheepdog room to realize something alarming: Shaun was under him, the blanket barely covering his lower half now, and as a result the scent that had been driving him crazy for the past hours was now more intense than ever.  
And then all his willpower, all the control Bitzer had been struggling to keep with him, it all fell apart within a second.

There was fear reflected in Shaun's eyes at the sight of the sheepdog sniffing the air, but after burying his nose into that wooly neck all Bitzer could think about was that _desire._ Desire to keep that scent with him, desire to fulfill the need it gave, _desire for the one who was providing it._

With the checklist long forgotten and the surprised bleat ignored, Bitzer felt under at trance. His paws unconciously went to caress the wool of Shaun's body, and though tensed at first, Bitzer could feel the hooves pressed against his chest slowly relaxing under the touch. Things didn't take long to go further after that.

It wasn't until that Shaun, as a response to teeth brushing against his jaw, let out an strangled sound that the sheepdog snapped out of his new-found state. Unsurprisingly, sounds of panic were the first thing to appear.

Bitzer's desesperation to get away was so much that he couldn't get himself to care for the bits of dust that flew away when his back crashed against the closet's wall. His paws were covering his nose, not only to try to isolate himself from the scent but also to express his horror because _what the heck was he doing?!_

With widened eyes Bitzer saw how Shaun slowly sat on the bed to look back at him. His hoof was placed in the part of his neck that had been attacked a moment ago, his wool made a mess just like his breathing, and(strangely) in the middle of those dizzy yet surprised eyes, Bitzer could spot a look of dissapointment. He had to cover his eyes and lower his head at the sight, _he needed to_; Shaun looked way too cute like that and it was taking all of his will to not go and take back the warmness that his body was now missing.

The whine of frustration that left him probably did not help keep his cool image at all but he was stressed! Bitzer was a sheepdog, _their_ sheepdog. He was supposed to protect the flock, not-_not do this. _What was wrong with him?!

The answer to that question appeared in Bitzer's mind in the form of little red words written above Shaun's doodle on the checklist.

_'Possibly in heat'._

It all suddenly made sense at once: the smell, the reason those ewes had to be separated from the flock, why Shaun was suddenly aggressive after meeting them, and why the Farmer had decided to make him sleep somewhere else tonight. Shaun got affected by their pheromones, _he ended up being in heat himself._

And once again, Bitzer was the one dragged into the mess.

Too distracted proccesing everything, the sheepdog didn't notice the bed cracking as someone moved to get close. However, Bitzer _did_ notice when a pair of hooves softly pulled his lower paws just enough to unbent his knees, so he uncovered his face to find not only the embarrasing fact that both of them had gotten hard, but also that Shaun was straddling his lap. The sudden closeness was enough to leave the sheepdog breathless right away.

He could only catch sight of the desperation in Shaun's face before he had to squint his eyes at the sensation of the sheep's erection pressing against his own.

Bitzer had to bite back a sound as a breathy exhale of relief left Shaun. The desire to create friction was there, haunting and quickly putting him on edge in mere seconds, but Bitzer(though with difficulty) was able to fight it back. He sat as straight as he could to get their parts separated, getting a murmur of disconcert from the sheep, and placed his paws firmly in Shaun's arms. Both of them had their breathing accelerated, yet it only took them to lock eyes for it to stop completely.

It was slow, but Shaun's eyes little by little showed how logic thoughts and shock settled in. The attempt to pull away got stopped by paws softly grabbing his wrists. A blush, this one out of shyness, spread in the sheep's cheeks when a furry forehead leaned against his shoulder. Yeah, they had shared close contact a moment ago but this felt...different_, _for reasons it wasn't good to think about right now.

Bitzer sighed heavily, his eyes closing in hopes that that could cease his troubled mind.—Throwing themselves at each other like that was not normal. Hormones were the ones doing that, not them. But he was sure a bit of logic was still in their brains, they could just..._ignore_ _this_, act like it never happened and everything would be fine.

But it wasn't that easy. How much was Shaun going to be like this? Would he be able to stand it? Bitzer wasn't even sure if he could keep control of his own body himself.

Those and more questions kept going through Bitzer's head, but there was one in specific that kept appearing over and over again.

How far was he willing to go to help Shaun?

In normal circumstances he won't blink an eye while giving the answer. But like this...it was scary to think about.

More than once Bitzer had given up his dignity and safety in order to protect all the sheep, eventually being Shaun for whom he ended looking out the most. And Shaun was the same; he was always willing to cheer him up when he was stressed, always willing to lend him a hoof and do the same amount of crazy stuff Bitzer did just for him. Even if there were usual the arguments over rules and mishaps, and the teasing and bickering was never missing, they had always been a team: always working together to fix the farm's weekly issues, and always there for each other in good and bad.

Always...

The sheepdog could hear his friend's heart pounding like crazy under his chest, how Shaun's whole body shivered in a silent, unconscious plead for release. He was trying to hide it, but it was already obvious who was the one having it worst there.

Shaun...really needed this, didn't he?

Slowly, with more delicacy than last time, Bitzer moved his nose through the wool until it reached the sheep's neck. He felt Shaun going stiff and gulp at that, but it only took a second for him to relax and tilt his head to give the sheepdog more room.

He did, and Bitzer was willing to go this far just for him.

With his paws going back to the sheep's sides, Bitzer took in the intoxicating scent once again, and tried hard to ignore the feeling that he might be needing this as well.

\---

The whole 'sitting down to talk' thing they had to have was torture, but necessary. Bitzer knew, due to investigations he did(for personal reasons), that it was different to do this if both partners were males. And since this was Shaun's first time as well, the risk of things turning out wrong were bigger if precautions were not taken.

And who was better at taking precautions than Bitzer?

Thankfully Shaun didn't ask why he knew those things, but instead looked like he was already aware of all those things. The mutual understanding was appreciated, but the way Shaun kept nodding impatiently to everything he said did not help Bitzer's struggles to keep his head(and body) in calm.

At the end, the conversation ended being cut short by Bitzer's own impatience. The sight of Shaun's body shivering at not attending its needs was enough to break his last bits of self-control, so he ended up throwing himself at Shaun once again— this time quite literally.

After the surprised bleat came a short hearty laugh, and then an attempt to joke about his eagerness that got quickly replaced by a gasp instead. By placing himself between the sheep's legs and pressing their parts together, Bitzer found a good way to shut any unwanted commentaries.

It was such and small action, but when he stretched to leave his watch in the nightstand there was friction created down there and it already felt _so_ _addictive_. It didn't help when Shaun moved his hips upwards to keep the feeling there, so keeping steady while turning the lamp off had been a difficult task.

And once the room surrended to the dark, so did they to what their bodies wanted.

They had started slow, with shy caresses here and these that soon evolved into further touching. With the need for closeness surpassing any shame, it didn't take long before they ended up replicating what Shaun had tried to do earlier.

Rubbing their parts together like that felt good(really good), but it wasn't enough. In the middle of their attempts to avoid any sound from scaping their mouths, insticts were telling them to go further than that. So as frustrating as it was to stop, Bitzer had to be the one to do it. He understood Shaun's frustated bleat way too well, but saw necessary to remind both of them of why he had to.

Within the dark, thanks to the few rays of moonlight that sneaked through the curtained windows, Bitzer could spot the sheep averting his gaze shyly at his words. The sheepdog pulled away to sit in the middle of the bed, and tried not to melt against the regained warmth of Shaun's body when he sat straddling his lap again.

It was curious how such lewd need could create that unique level of intimacy within mere seconds. Bitzer wasn't a fan of excessive physical contact, but having Shaun close to him like that...felt nice, for reasons he preferred to ignore.

While Bitzer's thoughts were focused in innocent topics, Shaun's mind and gaze were in other things, _private ones specifically_. Bitzer felt the need to cover himself just like Shaun was doing it, but with no wool to push down to do so he opted to use his own paws instead. The old scolding-bark while(not really)managing to not look like an embarrassed mess did the trick, and Shaun was quick to snap his eyes back to where they should be.

The sheepdog noticed at that moment that just as his fur was able to hide his own blush, so was Shaun's skin tone. It was still obvious though, with his lowered ears and avoiding-gaze, that he felt—well, _sheepish _about what he just did. With a soft bleat of apologize, Shaun started to explain himself.

First he gave an awkward grin, and held up his hooves in front of him in parallel. Then, when the hooves started to separate from each other and Shaun gestured slightly with his head below, Bitzer understood what Shaun was trying to tell.

If it was possible, Bitzer could feel himself blushing even more. Having someone telling him he was well-endowed was a new, but not unwelcomed type of compliment. Without noticing, he was already chuckling, his tail wagging as one of his paws went to scratch his neck lightly in a shy gesture.— _Well,_ _he certainly wasn't a small dog so..._

Then the realization hit that Shaun was probably saying it out of nervousness. This was his first time after all, he didn't know how much he would be able to handle.

Seeing the leader of the flock averting his gaze and lowering both his head and ears like that was an uncommon sight. There were few the times when it was Bitzer who had to calm Shaun and not the other way around; heck, Bitzer still had problems knowing what to do when that happened.

Between all the alternatives that came to mind, he ended up settling for placing his paws, firmly but caring, in the sheep's shoulders. This made Shaun look up, and Bitzer took the chance to give him his best reassuring smile. Maybe barking out a promise was too much, but he wanted to make sure that Shaun understood that he didn't have to be afraid with him. Bitzer was their sheepdog and friend, it was his priority to make sure Shaun wouldn't get hurt.

For a brief moment, Bitzer thought he saw something in the way Shaun's eyes shined at the sight of his smile, but after the sheep lowered his head again to give a barely visible nod, the sheepdog couldn't be sure. Shaun then knelt up, arms wrapping around Bitzer's neck, and hid his face in that warm space.

To Bitzer's ignorance, Shaun wasn't aware of the other's inability to see his strong blush.

The sheepdog almost, _almost _thought about returning the embrace, but made himself keep his head only in where it needed to be. He reached for his member, struggling to not touch it more than necessary while he tried to get his fingers covered by the fluid that shamelessly showed his enjoyment of all this. With how weird it felt in his own paw, he hoped it won't be of bother to Shaun.

When he considered that part complete, Bitzer placed one paw in the sheep's thigh and one digit in his entrance. He had to remind Shaun to relax when he felt him going stiff at the touch, and after a self-encouraging deep breath, Shaun nodded to indicate he was ready.

The finger went in slowly, with the sticky substance that covered it being of help. A shudder, accompanied by a sound of discomfort left Shaun, but he didn't try to pull away. The reassuring nod received seconds later indicated that things were going okay for now. As necesary as this was, Bitzer agreed with the fact that it must feel really weird.

After a second finger went in, and a few seconds of accustomization later, Bitzer slowly tried a scissoring motion inside to stretch the entrance. The answer to this was quite abrupt, this being a snout burying further into his neck and a pair of hooves squeezing his arms with force. The attack to his short fur made Bitzer bite back a pained yelp, but the notorious heavy breathing of Shaun distracted him from it.

The fingers stayed still, their owner not sure if they should go out or not. When the fur was released and a shaky sigh left Shaun, Bitzer silently phew-ed in relief at the reassuring bleat received. _That was a close one._

The digits moved a bit inside, then got slowly pulled out until the tip before going in again. These motions kept being repeated to make the area used to them. Shaun's initial discomfort seemed to go away with every stroke, soon turning into badly-hidden pleasure when Bitzer's didgits found a certain spot inside. By the way Shaun had curved his back and moaned at the sudden sensation, it must had felt really good.

Bitzer tried massaging that spot once more, and found himself smiling quite cockily at Shaun's failed attempts to keep his voice down.—_Just guessing of course_, but something was telling him that he was doing a good job keeping things in order.

But just as every time things involved the mischievous sheep, Bitzer spoke too soon.

While trying to hide his embarrassing sounds, Shaun had ended up accidentally moving Bitzer's collar with his snout. The sheepdog's flinched at that, his fur standing at the strange sensation that brought. It was a short reaction, but it somehow got a light bulb to go on over the sheep's head.

The collar was lying in the floor in a single moment, and Bitzer felt all his face going red under his fur when Shaun completely buried his snout in the now-exposed place.—He barely took off his collar, it was like a permanent piece of clothing for him and having Shaun kissing it so shamelessly was _not _helping to ignore the growing need for attention he had below. A whimper scaped out of his mouth without his consent and Bitzer _swore_ he felt Shaun grinning against his neck at that. It was incredible how that sheep managed to touch his nerves even on a moment like this.

Taking out his fingers, Bitzer expected that to serve as payback, but only found the consequences of dealing with someone who had gained knowledge of your sensitive spots through the years.

The sheepdog's mind went numb when one of Shaun's hooves scratched _that one_ spot behind his ear. He already felt himself melting against it when the hoof went under his chin, his leg instantly kicking when he got scratched there with more intensity. Before Bitzer noticed, his eyes were already closed with his tongue sticking out of his dumb smile.

It happened too quickly. One second he was touching heaven and the next he was being pinned down by his shoulders to the bed by a wool-covered demon. Bitzer could only blink at the smug smile that Shaun shot him before he knelt to pull apart. Confused about what the other was trying to pull off, Bitzer lifted his head just enough to catch sight of what he was doing.

Shaun was positioning himself above his red, rock-hard member, looking down at it with a bitten lip and a mix of doubt and—Bitzer gulped— _lust_. One of his hooves went to the edge of the window at his side and the other to one of the sheepdog's bent knees, this being used as support to lift himself a bit. With his legs spread, he was quick to shoot a nervous glance towards Bitzer to ask for permission.

As equally nervous as he was at realizing what was coming, Bitzer's needs couldn't wait any longer. So he nodded, slowly but with a notable shine of eagerness in his eyes, and hoped for things to go by with no problems.

His voice came back when tight, warm walls surrounded the tip of his member. A groan, one that he barely managed to maintain low, scaped out of him as Shaun clutched his eyes at the introductory sensation. After what felt like an eternity, the sheep continued to press down, this time until he almost reached the base.

Shaun had moaned, his hooves holding onto what they could reach as he got used to the member inside him. Bitzer from his part, with his breath agitated and all of his paws pressed against the mattress, had to force himself to hold back and _not move_.

In a moment like this, the least the sheepdog expected to hear was a giggle.

It was breathless, noticeably hard to come out between all the sensations, but it was there. Curious about it, Bitzer opened his eyes to quite a nice view: dizzy eyes, messy wool filled with bits of fur that gave Bitzer a feeling of having marked territory, and a tired yet blissful demeanor noticeable under the blue moonlight; all mixed together perfectly into the sheep in front of him. With his half-lidded eyes and a tranquil smile, the _'wow'_ Shaun managed to chuckle out while looking at him was the cherry on the cake.

His nod was kept weak, but Bitzer's wagging tail hitting the mattress easily gave him away.— _wow indeed._

The way Shaun released the edge of the window to place that hoof under the sheepdog's chest was a welcomed indication that things were moving forward. Bitzer once more had to remind himself to be patient when the slightest friction that movement made got him to whimper, but _sweet bones,_ _was it difficult_.

Then there was it, the characteristic grin Shaun made every time he discovered something to get mischief of, and Bitzer regretted in so many levels ever making that sound.

It was such a small movement, Shaun leaning forward, tightening around him by doing so...it was torture to be left waiting for more.

Shaun knew that, it was so obvious with that stupid playful smile of his that he was enjoying the dog's vulnerable position. Behind clutched eyes, Bitzer could feel another whimper wanting to scape his throat when Shaun's hoof slid slowly(as if enjoying the sensation) through the fur of his chest.

He was teasing.

Oh, like this was something to be surprised about! Knowing how Shaun was, Bitzer should have tried doing it himself just to keep things fair.

His warning glare got met by the sheep's typical chuckle, but before Bitzer could growl to indicate _it_ _wasn't funny__,_ Shaun's hoof went back to his abdomen and his hips started moving.

The rhythm started unsure and tentative, but it picked up after a few thrusts. With that slow and careful pace, Bitzer could feel himself forgetting about any plans of revenge and melting against the soft mattress. As his eyes closed, lost in the sensations, his pawn unconsciously went to Shaun's sides. It felt as if they took ages to get to this part, but it was worth it, so, _so_ worth it.

Sometimes a specially delicious feeling went through his member when Shaun tightened around him, low grunts and whimpers that grew stronger every time that happened answering to it. Bitzer could hear Shaun's own bleaty-moans doing the same when the sheepdog's hips started moving along, always trying to reach that spot he knew drove his friend crazy. Apparently, the competitive nature of their relationship had stuck even to this.

Bitzer half-opened his eyes just in time to catch sight of Shaun having to throw his head back and moan when a particularly well aimed thrust hit in the right place once again. In the heat of the moment, the sheepdog didn't realize he had been staring until Shaun looked back at him and widened his eyes in embarrassment.

Any attempt to try to avoid any awkwardness got cut short by Shaun tightening around him more roughly than before, and this time on purpose. Bitzer, not having expecting that at all, barely managed to keep low the howl that escaped him as his head pressed against the mattress and his eyes squeezed shut. When the overwhelming feeling left, leaving him panting and struggling to keep his eyes focused, the sight of Shaun sticking his tongue out mockingly was enough to irritate the sheepdog.

As much as Bitzer wanted to thrust in deeper, to give Shaun a taste of his own medicine, he couldn't risk an accident occurring out of spite. But it just wasn't fair to let Shaun tease him like that, not when he was not in position of doing the same in return.

...but that could change.

With his grip firm in the sheep's hips, Bitzer was quick to pull him off and flip thing to be the one on top again, the surprised bleat than echoed being cut short by the sudden closeness. By Seeing Shaun under him, for once not doing anything but having pure perplexion in his eyes, Bitzer started to understand why the sheep did it moments ago.

After quickly having removed his wristband and thrown it away(making a mental note to definitely wash it with the rest of stuff later), Bitzer leaned forward to reach the pillow at the head of the bed. He heard a gulp coming from below, and looked down to find Shaun staring at his chest with _quite the interest._ Bitzer smirked, taking the chance to waggle his brows teasingly when Shaun looked back at him. The grunt the sheep made while looking away got Bitzer to chuckle as he accommodated the pillow next to Shaun's head. _Yep, it was fun._

Curious eyes questioned the sheepdog when he pulled away, his answer being a soft 'ruff' and a spinning motion with his finger telling Shaun to turn around. The other just blinked, and seemed to become nervous at realizing the why of the request. After a moment of thought, what Shaun saw when glancing below seemed to help erase any doubts.

Bitzer knelt to give his friend room, observing anxious how he rolled over. Shaun accommodated himself by folding his arms over the pillow and leaning his chin there, a sigh leaving him at the cosiness of it. A second later, he lifted his backside, his knees used as support while his fluffy tail got moved to the side.

Bitzer felt his mouth watering as if his body had no shame, and if his collar was still there, he would have tugged it to try to ease the hot sensation the full view gave to him. He never noticed how..._revealing_ this position was, but it was the only one he knew his instinct would help him with.

Shaking his head to stop staring, Bitzer got close and placed his paws in the wool of Shaun's hips, tilting his head a bit to give his friend a look. The sheep hid his face further in the pillow, probably embarrassed of how he looked like that, so Bitzer had to give a quick bark to ask for permission. The muffled noise of affirmation that came was enough answer.

He went in slowly, feeling a huge relief at being surrounded by warmth again. There were no pauses to get used this time, Shaun's relaxed manner showed they were not needed. As the delightful seconds went by, Bitzer didn't notice when the rhythm of his thrusts stopped being slow. If Shaun's muffled moans and his backside following the pace were anything to go by, it meant that there was, thankfully, no problem to keep that going.

Once again they found themselves in a limbo, their minds filled only by bliss and pleasure. Any shame to hide their sounds got lost long ago, yet Bitzer couldn't help but envy(or maybe dislike?) the fact that Shaun had it easier to hide them. Maybe it was the fear of being seen in such a vulnerable state again, or the need to push back the embarrassing wish to hear those sounds more clearly perhaps, but the idea of changing positions to solve that was quickly discarded in order to avoid having to stop. They won't, not now that they couldn't bear it.

Everything was a mess; the room, their breathing, their bodies. It only got worst when the movements fastened once more guided by need. Bitzer had to bend over, his paws holding onto Shaun's hips with all his life when he felt the sheep losing force when the sensations were too much.

For a moment there, a moment where reality felt distant, hazy and only tied down by the sound of a voice, Bitzer could have sworn he heard Shaun crying out his name.

He himself couldn't explaing the tumult of sensations that mere word brought to his heart.

First it was Shaun who reached a peak, the pillow under his arms being squeezed and his back arching as a final muffled moan left him. Bitzer wasn't far behind and, against what his instincts told him, he was quick to pull away when he was at his limit. His paws pressed against the wool as the outcome of that night left his body, the overwhelming sensation making him both moan and sink forward even more until his nose brushed the wool of the sheep's back.

And then that stars-reaching feeling was gone, leaving a strong exhaustion in both of them to take its place. Bitzer turned over and fell flat with a huff on the bed as Shaun did the same.

Their agitated breathing slowly calming down was the only sound filling the room at that moment. Bitzer's gaze kept focused on the ceiling, his chest raising and falling while the 'that just happened' settled in. He felt weird, covered in all type of body fluids that he really wanted to wash away right now, and he knew well he should be in his doghouse warding the farm, but the feeling of extreme tiredness was stronger. Would Shaun be okay if he stood over?

The sheepdog turned his head to look at his bed-companion. Shaun's eyes were glued to the ceiling too, shining under the moonlight with a notable awe in the middle of all the exhaustion. He noticed the staring, looked back and gave out a small, nervous smile that somehow matched in the most harmonic way with the messy appeareance he had been left with.

It was, ironically, like witnessing an angel.

And there it was again, that fluttering feeling in his stomach accompanied by that ticking sensation in his cheeks. Cheesy enough was to say that Bitzer could already picture dumb little hearts popping out of his own head.

This is where the sheepdog would put a stop to that, but honestly? He hadn't been thinking clearly all day, he'll allow himself to smile and waggle his tail freely this time.

It felt...liberating.

And sticky, too much. Why did he...?

Bitzer looked down to find the unpleasant surprise that his member was still up, bigger than ever and still leaking.

As fitting for his actual state as it was to scream, Bitzer keep it down by clenching his teeth instead. He sat up in a rush, using the blanket at the end of the bed to cover his lap with such desperation that Shaun had flinched at the sudeness of it all.

Bitzer wanted earth to swallow him. How could he forget about this part?! Even if he avoided the 'locking' part from happening it didn't mean that his body wouldn't react like nature intended it to, _ugh._

Well, at least this way it should go away in a few minutes, right?

Suddenly remembering who was lying behind him, Bitzer looked back. He could only smile awkwardly at Shaun's confused frown and tilted head. Right now it was not the moment to explain how dog's anatomy worked and neither was Bitzer comfortable enough to do it.

In an attempt to look for something to clean himself, Bitzer turned his head to see if there was something to use in the nightstand's drawer. Luck for once was on his side, because there he found an old box of tissues waiting to be used. He took it with no thought and handed some to Shaun expecting that to serve as a distraction; though Shaun seemed sceptical, he still took them. After all they went through a moment ago, the shy need to turn around while cleaning themselves was still there.

The tissues got thrown to the floor with the rest of the mess. Bitzer remained sitting there, blanket hiding his crotch and wondering what he should do. His thoughts were cut short by Shaun sitting up with a yawn. By bleating tiredly and pointing at the blanket with his hoof, the sheep asked for the fabric to be handed over.

_Now:_ it was dark, Shaun looked like he'll fall asleep first moment the pillow touched his head, and Bitzer was not far apart from that either. He could sleep there without that that much risk of his 'not-so-little-problem' being discovered, so why not.

With no energy to reconsider anything, Bitzer simply lied flat in the bed along with Shaun and covered both of them with the blanket. After saying their respective good nights(and Bitzer's problem went away), Shaun ended being the one to fall asleep first.

It was normal for animals to get close to each other looking for warmth, the flock did it all the time in winter, and so he and Shaun back when they were babies; so why blush over the asleep sheep at his side snuggling against him for that same reason? At this point, Bitzer couldn't say he didn't know why.

With a deep breath the sheepdog obligated himself to relax, to not mind Shaun's head lying in his chest or his arm being placed there too. With how loudly his heart pounded, he feared it would wake Shaun up at any moment.

But that didn't happen, not when Bitzer wrapped his arm around Shaun's back and neither when he lied his chin in the wool of his head. Shaun just...sleepily snuggled back, calm as he always was when Bitzer was on the verge of having a heart attack.

The sheepdog knew dangerous territory was being stepped on when a smile appeared on his snout, and _he knew_ this would be the perfect moment to give himself 'the speech' over and over again until he was out of it, but...he also knew it was useless.

Long ago had Bitzer been in that territory now, and more and more tired was he growing of trying to leave, only for a bleaty-laugh to make him realize he only got himself in deeper.

But with how much Bitzer had been fighting it, how many times he had focused on work to remind himself of why heshouldn't feel like that, he had barely stopped to look and see that the 'dangerous territory' wasn't as bad as his mind made it up to be. That behind stressful rule-breaking, bickering and a job to comply with, there were laughs, comforting gestures and a lot of good moments that surpassed any of that.

That if not repressed, that growing feeling would stop heaving in his chest, turning every moment with Shaun in a need to run away due to guilt...it would all go away, make him happy instead, if Bitzer only accepted it was there.

So for tonight, with the excuse of being tired and deserving of a break, Bitzer will let himself enjoy Shaun's presence between his arms, leave all the thinking for tomorrow, and only for this time, _allow himself to call it love._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck It's been more than two weeks
> 
> Ok so I'm pretty mixed about this chapter. I like some things but others not that much, but still after months of sitting on my draft and suffering way too many changes, here's the end of this thing
> 
> I'm not sure if I did a good job writing Shaun, hope I did

Shaun woke up to the sound of ruffling in the room.

His first reaction was to release a weak sound of complaint, roll over and cover himself even more with the blanket. He didn't know what time it was, but it felt like it was too early and the only thing he wanted to do right now was sleep as much as possible.

Whoever was making that fuss seemed to hear his protest and stop in his tracks, and those few seconds of silence were enough for Shaun to go back to his so-desired land of dreams again.

Funny thing, this time he did not dream with being the first sheep to land on the moon, or with any other type of crazy adventures that were only possible there. This dream had no images, only the soft sound of a familiar growl and the strange sensation that he was being lifted from the comfy surface he had been lying on.

Now there was something fuzzy placed in his upper back and another one under his legs, getting a good hold of him. Shaun couldn't find himself to question why something felt so familiar about this, neither did he try to do so. With how cold the air suddenly felt, he just simply flowed with it and snuggled against the fur when his head touched a warm surface.

For a moment there, right before his mind went completely numb, Shaun thought he heard the sound of a boiling kettle coming from the pillow holding him.

Heh, dreams sure were strange.

\---

His second awakening was more abrupt, hitting him just like a bucket of water straight to the face.

Literally.

Shaun sat up with a loud gasp, drops of water falling from his ears as he quickly looked around in a desperate attempt to know what was going on. A vibrant yellow at his left was what first got his attention., and he turned his head to find a cross-armed Bitzer staring down at him. The murder weapon(a bucket) was lying empty on the ceramic floor, right next to the lower paw tapping the edge of the pool with impatient.

Shaun was, besides of upset for the brute awakening, extremely confused right now.

Why was he outside? Why was Bitzer there? Why was the pool full of water? And why did he felt so tired when he didn't remember doing that much yesterday?

_Yesterday..._

His gaze went down to his own wool, and where Shaun expected to find any mud that merited him to be there, instead he met small yellow lines covering random parts of it. _What...?_

He looked back at Bitzer, noticing not only how he had none of his accessories on, but the bits of wool distributed through his fur that served as an abrupt reminder. The memories came all at once to his mind, and Shaun's eyes must have shown his horror judging by how Bitzer uncomfortably averted his gaze.

Not a single bleat could leave his mouth before the sheepdog spoke first, pointing at the pool and then tapping his wrist a couple times(actually meaning to point at his watch). He then left without another word, his steps a bit too fast to be seen as casual.

Shaun only blinked as his friend walked away, to take a shower in his doghouse probably. As strict as Bitzer was with following schedules, he liked to take his time with baths and appreciated privacy in his 'self-care' moments. Still, the feeling the sheepdog may be trying to avoid something started to form up.

Shaun shook his head to stop staring.— Ok, so..._'take a bath before everyone wakes up', _got it.

After making sure the water was warm, the sheep jumped right into it without that much thought. When his hooves touched the end of the pool he swam back to the top, gasping back for air as the exterior sound came back to his ears. He cleaned his eyes from any water before opening them, and then started to stroke the wool of his head to start with the cleaning.

He had to be quick, he knew that, but it wasn't easy to avoid getting lost in his own mind in such as situation. Yesterday happened, all of it; from the strange feeling those ewes' scent left in him to...to_ that._

Shaun stopped moving his hooves— If it wasn't for the all evidence distributed through his body, he'll probably think it was all a fever dream by how surreal it felt. But no, it was all there: the hair in his wool, the soreness of his body, and he really preferred to not mention the now-dry fluid that was waiting for cleaning in lower regions.

They really didn't stop to think a little about what they were doing yesterday, huh? Well, no obviously. No matter how 'human' they all acted, animals instincts were difficult to ignore, Shaun got slapped with a reminder of that yesterday. In their case as herd animals, it was usual for the sheep to stick together and follow if one of them(Shaun usually) walked away too far. But if examples are needed, Bitzer was a better one: shaking anything similar to a stick or a frisbee would get him to be on all four instantly, his leg always did that-kicking thing when he got scratched in the right spot, and by looking at his tail it was easy to tell how he was really feeling.

It was curious then, how even if it was Shaun the one that acted less like an animal there, it still ended up being him the most affected by the ewe's fiasco_. _Not that Bitzer didn't get the same problem but...he certainly had been pretty careful last night, considering that the need to go straight to the point kept growing stronger with every second.

Before Shaun could stop himself, his mind started wandering into certain memories— He remembered awkwardness, conversations about precautions to take, soft paws holding him gently and...a tender smile under the moonlight telling him that it'll be okay...

But on top of all that, he could recall way too clearly the feeling of those same paws traveling through his body, exploring and touching and digging onto his skin when they were-

Shaun felt his face heating up, and intensified the cleaning as if that could erase the previous night away. That couldn't be obviously; the water could wash every hair, every bit of Bitzer's scent impregnated into his skin, but what took place yesterday would remain, clear, fresh and in the form form of haunting thoughts for the rest of the day.

\----

Shaun had been in the middle of drying with a towel when the rooster's awakening melody echoed through each corner of the farm. That meant that, in a matter of minutes, everyone would be awake and outside doing their respective activities.

Shaun shrugged, kept drying the wool of his head, and only reacted when he caught sight of Bitzer (now fully-'clothed') running towards the house. The quick gestures the sheepdog made telling him to go back to the trailer were enough for Shaun to drop the towel and rush towards the field.

Not one of his best ideas, considering yesterday's events.

He didn't know what happened, one moment he was running and the next a sudden sharp pain in his lower half made him trip and end with his face slammed against the grass.

It took a moment for the pain to lessen, and in those seconds of lying flat against the dirt all Shaun could do is release a muffled but long groan as if that helped somehow. The grass crunched next to him seconds later, making Shaun turn his head and met the silly sight of yellow fur having puffed a bit after meeting with a hair dryer.

“Ruff?” Bitzer's tone showed concern too, but nor the sight or the sound could bring a smile to the sheep's face this time.

Shaun tried to get up, sit at least, and inhaled sharply though his teeth when his butt lied on the surface. With a little thinking he could know why it was, and though it wasn't okay, the blaming glare he shot at Bitzer escaped out of him before it could be stopped. Bitzer arched a brow, looked offended even, but in an instant his expression shifted into one of oh-so-horrible realization.

Shaun caught sight of how Bitzer tried to extend his paw, only to quickly draw it back and look away instead. He was grimacing, his shoulders tensed showing discomfort.

_Over being around him._

The sound of a door opening was what saved them from the upcoming awkward silence. Shaun reacted by changing his sitting position to a more animal-like, and luckily this time he only felt a minimum discomfort down there. Bitzer from his part turned around in panic, going stiff at seeing the farmer going their way.

Before the confused man could mutter any questions, Bitzer stepped right next to the sheep and saluted with more stiffness than usual. Shaun could see him sweating too, Bitzer had never been good at hiding his nervousness.

“Uh...” The farmer scratched his head, and after a moment he snapped his fingers with an 'oh!' that indicated the memory clicked back in place. Kneeling in front of Shaun, he placed a hand under his chin and hummed thoughtful as he looked down at the young sheep that had caused such trouble the previous day.

Shaun had to glance at his sides when the staring became too long, but when the farmer lifted a hand to pet him, he smiled and gladly accepted it. With no hormones and such making him react in less-nice ways, the scratch behind his ear easily got the previous pain to be forgotten.

The farmer released a short but triumphant laugh at that, dusting off his hands as he stood up like if he had actually done something to fix yesterday's issue(well...he did, indirectly). With that settled, he turned around and started walking towards the barn with Bitzer following close behind.

After the man left to the comfiness of his house, the flock had practically run over the poor Bitzer when they saw their leader standing in the middle of the field. There were lots of smiles and a couple pats of 're welcoming', but also too many questions for Shaun's own quick thinking to handle. Spotting some of them smelling the air did not help, and though Shaun tried to remind himself that they probably were only confused about the smell of soap(because there was _no way_ he still had Bitzer's scent on him anymore), the fear was still there.

For once, Shaun was happy to hear the deafening whistle of Bitzer hitting his ears.

As quick as they came, the flock got shooed away by the sheepdog's loud usual ways. Confused 'baa's' could be heard, but they still distributed through the field with no other complaints.

Both animals released the breath they had been holding, and then blinked at noticing the other's presence. For some reason Shaun couldn't seem to find his voice, so he only nodded as a way to say thanks. After Bitzer returned the gesture, only an awkward silence was left in the air.

The farmer, oblivious to the situation but somehow managing to rescue them from it once more, whistled in the distance calling for his dog. Bitzer chuckled awkwardly, his thumb pointing towards the farmer as he gave a couple steps back to show he had to go.

At the sight of yellow suddenly running off(or away perhaps...), Shaun's ears lowered at realizing that the idea of Bitzer avoiding him seemed more probable than he thought.

\----

The rest of the day went by quite peacefully. Much enough for the flock to start sending worried glances towards their leader more than once.

All Shaun had been doing since the farmer left to town was read comics under the tree. Not attempts to pry the man's house, not organizing any big event, not even accepting their offers to play soccer or any other sport. Shaun had insisted that he just wasn't feeling that active that day, but his strange behavior from yesterday did not help to cease the feeling that something was wrong at all.

Even Shirley had looked up from her grazing a couple of times, and that was much enough to show her worry.

Bitzer seemed to know something. Though at no moment he stepped a paw on the field, he still had sent more than one look towards Shaun from his spot behind the stone wall. Still, no clear answer came when they tried to ask him so it was as good as nothing.

The flock did try to hide it by whistling away every time the young sheep looked up from his comic, but Shaun still was well aware of their glances. He couldn't blame them really; not a single explanation was given(neither was it planned to) about why he didn't sleep in the barn last night, and seeing him being so...still and quiet the following day must be strange.

To be honest, he wanted to do something. It was a nice day to only lie down and be bored(and Shaun hated being bored), but his body wasn't in conditions to do that much. It had already been difficult to avoid showing any sings of discomfort when he walked in two or sat down, and the last thing the sheep wanted was someone to find out the why of his problem.

Ugh, if he had known he would feel this sore the next day he wouldn't hav-

He...didn't know if he would've cared really.

Yesterday had been a wild day. After that sweet scent reached his nostrils, his body had reacted in the strangest ways: he was feeling way too hot all of sudden, the mere idea of anyone coming near him seemed despicable, and then there was the strong urge to do..._something. _He hadn't been sure what, but it was there and he really needed to attend it but _didn't even know what it was._

Shaun could only watch as those ewes left the farm with the feeling that he was being separated from the only solution he had to his new problem. Later in the trailer he would find out why, written in red in the checklist Bitzer forgot there, and with that Shaun saw the start of what would a long and terrible night for him.

Hours had passed then, and what started as a strange, annoying sensation soon intensified to the point of having him being a shivering-glued-to-the-bed mess. Hooves had grabbed desperately onto fabric, his legs had pressed together as uncomfortable whines and gasp were muffled against the mattress, all of it being an unsuccessful plead of his own body asking to stop being ignored. Shaun kept ignoring it anyways, forcing his attention on hating and cursing with every inch of his being that checklist under the pillow, because with an answer to the why of his problem, came an obvious solution that he resisted, _refused_ to face.

And on top of all his punishment for simply wanting to know what was the big deal with the new group of sheep, the owner of said checklist reappeared there when Shaun thought he couldn't be on a worst situation.

Shaun had felt bad for receiving Bitzer so coldly, specially after hitting him in an unusual moment of panic(still had to apologize for that, _really apologize_, get the farmer to buy him his fave snacks or something), but he couldn't feel relaxed around the sheepdog in that state, not after having witnessed that sniffing nose hours before, _not_ knowing how this state and certain feelings could get him to do something he'll regret.

Surprising had been to see Bitzer not angry at all, but simply wanting to check on the sheep, naively thinking it could be all because of a fever; all unaware of how his presence, _that mere paw touching his forehead_...it was only making things worse.

And well, after a fight for a checklist that ended with him under Bitzer, it was easy to know how the rest of the story went.

Shaun only knew that through technically it was thanks to them that he felt better, his hatred for checklist only grew even more after this.

The flock's leader flipped another page of the comic, huffing at realizing he reached the half of it with none of its contents actually reaching his brain. Giving up, he decided to close it and toss around so he could lie on his back, his arms going to the back of his head for greater comfort. The urge to turn his head and look for a certain dog was there once again, but he did his best to ignore it.

The leafs of the tree protected his eyes from the sun, leaving only dots of light to sneak through them. A slight breeze barely moved them with harmony, and with that sight and soft sounds Shaun found himself once again unable to escape his own thoughts.

Shaun wasn't one to overthink. Doing that never got anywhere and most of the time only complicated the simplest things so. Why do it now then? Because lately, when it came to Bitzer, his mind simply decided to do that.

It started with pats in the back, then when they accidentally brushed hooves(er-paws? both? whatever), and by the time that laughing together suffered the same path of coming back to his head like if something was different about it, Shaun knew something was going on. What exactly? With an agile mind like his, it hadn't been hard to figure out...kind of.

The whys, hows and whens had rounded his head for some weeks, the answers never becoming clear. With time and some reflexion, Shaun was able to understand that they weren't supposed to be, that love had always been a confusing feeling, and found himself not minding any 'buts' that appeared after that.

_It just happened_, he guessed, since babies till now their relationship had changed a lot over the years. Maybe this was another step, something _new_ to explore...he didn't know really.

And that was frustrated him about this, that this was one of those weird cases when he didn't know anything, what to do about it included. Trying to hide his sudden shyness had been difficult to pull off as days went by, and trying to give a first step was...difficult to do considering how jumpy Bitzer had been around him lately.

To even the slightest brush, the sheepdog would flinch and become tensed all of sudden, usually ending in him looking away if Shaun gave him a curious look and leaving with an excuse. The next few hours would consist on Bitzer looking upset over something but insisting that it was nothing if someone asked. Things between them would turn back to normal at the end of the day, and more than once Shaun had got his hopes high when they seemed to go further but...the cycle always repeated, and Shaun was having the feeling that maybe this time, it was better to keep his ideas only in his head(as much as he selfishly wished to do otherwise).

That was okay tough. They were good friends and got along with each other just fine by staying that way. It wasn't like he _actually _wanted them to hold hands, or get to nuzzle his snout against the fur of his chest, or kiss, _o-or repeat what happened yesterday..._

Shaun blushed, and instantly found himself groaning and stretching his face with his hooves in a frustrated attempt to stop whatever was going on in his head. He needed something to distract him, _anything_ to free him from his torturous mind.

Coincidentally, it was looking down at him in the form of his aunt and cousin.

Shaun greeted Timmy and his mom with a tired smile, though inside he wasn't that happy for the company right now. The mother of the flock had a book on her hooves and that 'let's talk about your feelings' look he knew too well. Considering the circumstances, that wasn't good news.

“Baa?” Timmy's mom gestured towards the base of the tree, asking for permission to sit down. After a moment of not finding himself able to say no, Shaun decided to nod.

He sat up and moved to lean his back against the tree, a sigh leaving him when he got reminded of the annoying pain. Shaun was no expert in the topic, but the one or two things he had read(because reasons) made it clear that he shouldn't be feeling like this the next day. At the risk of dying of embarrassment when recent memories slap him across the face without warning, he'll do an in-depth research of the topic later.

His aunt gave him and odd look at seeing him wince, but didn't question anything. She sat right next to him, and opened the book in her hooves to start looking through its pages. From the corner of his eye, Shaun could recognize the old looks of it and the few bite marks in the paper as the flock's old photo album.

“Baa!” Timmy's high-pitched bleat temporary saved Shaun from any questions. He was showing him a small box that though cheap-looking and with the red cross painted on it looking messy, could still be recognized as a first-aid kit.

The lamb rounded his cousin to put the kit next to his legs, instantly opening it to get out bunch of bandages out of it. With that Shaun understood that it was playtime, and he couldn't be more glad that this time Timmy decided to play something that didn't merit having to move that much.

Timmy poked the other's leg softly, instantly getting a dramatic 'ow!' from its owner. Shaun made sure to squeeze his eyes and clench his fists to add to his 'patient in pain' role, which judging by the lamb's gasp and quickness to get down to work, was played perfectly.

Shaun's gaze went from his leg being wrapped up in bandages to the field, to the empty chair that remained unused, and then to farmer's house in the distance, paying attention to anything but making front to his aunt's upcoming questions. His gaze naturally ended up landing on Bitzer, who was currently picking up the dry clothes from the clothesline.

Shaun frowned worried— That's all the sheepdog had been doing all day: chore after chore after chore, all without a single break. It was kind of stressing just to see him, more knowing it was the same dog that would rather play fetch or lie in his chair for hours just relaxing than receive more things to do. Yeah, he still worked hard to get all the boxes of his checklist ticked by the end of the day anyways but...for Shaun, it was obvious that this time it wasn't for the sake of being responsible and doing his job like usual.

Just as Shaun had unwanted thoughts constantly returning to his head, so was Bitzer probably. More than once he had spotted the sheepdog stopping what he was doing to bring his paw to his neck, slowly running it along it before shaking his head and working even harder on the current chore(and every time Shaun would blush, remembering well what he did to that part of his body, _how much control he had taken back then_). This probably was Bitzer's way to cop with what happened, by working nonstop in order to avoid thinking.

Shaun understood that need too well, but seeing Bitzer wanting to do it, after believing for a moment that something had been different last night...it hurt.

The leader of the flock snapped back to reality when a soft 'ahem' came from his right. He turned his head, blinked at the two photos that his aunt held in front of him, and hesitantly grabbed them for further inspection.

They were from long ago, from their childhood precisely. One photo showed a younger version of Bitzer and Shaun fighting over a ball, and in the other they were crossing arms and giving their backs to each other with their nose high to show their upsetness.—Oh, he still remembered this, they were fighting over who got to use the ball first and in the middle of the fuss it ended up landing on the pigsty; naturally the pigs, being just as mean as they were now, didn't give it back and both sheep and shepdog ended up blaming each other for losing it.

Shaun arched a brow at his aunt. Memories were nice but he knew she wasn't there for a nostalgic talk. She gestured with her head towards where Bitzer was, Shaun grimaced.

Now, his aunt meant well, the young sheep knew that. Though she was somewhat like a mother figure to him, Shaun had always been pretty independent and she respected that, never meddling into what he wanted to do and treating him as if he was a big sheep and not a lamb. But Timmy's mom also knew, as the oldest sheep of the flock(don't let her know he just thought that), that some 'years earned wisdom' advice was good to give once in a while to knock some sense on him.

Because even if she tended to be distracted sometimes, she could see well that right now, his nephew was ignoring an obvious solution on purpose.

Unconsciously, Shaun's shoulders tensed as his hooves took hold of the grass under them— _Where they so obvious? _—. He looked away, the humming sound that came out of him sounding more uncomfortable than he intended. After trying to avoid answering to no avail, Shaun settled for simply making a so-so gesture with one hoof and return the photos with the other. They didn't exactly have a fight but...something heavy happened and the whole not talking part was there.

Timmy's mom nodded, probably already expecting that answer, and continued to flip pages through the album.

A long humming came to Shaun's rescue. It was Timmy, who was looking at his nearly-finished work with a hoof under his chin and eyes narrowed in concentration. After considering he did a good job, he firmly nodded to declare it done and stamped a sticker as final touch right in the middle of it.

While Timmy dusted of his hands, proud smile in his face, Shaun lifted his leg to examine what had been done. The bandages got wrapped around so many times that it almost looked like he had a cast on, and the yellow smiley-face sticker adorning it only made it look sillier. He'll have to carry that with him all day in order to make Timmy happy, won't he?

The way the lamb's face brightened at Shaun's grin and approving thumbs up told him that yes, yes he would have to.

With his first patient's treatment being a success(psychically at least), the lamb quickly stuffed all the objects back into the box and took off towards his next objective, not noticing the stickers sheet that was being left forgotten on the grass.

Shaun heard his aunt soft giggling under her hoof, but it instantly died down when he looked back at her. She tried to hide it by softly coughing on her fist, and then showed her nephew the current page of the album she was looking at. Also from that same distant day, in one photo Shaun could see how in one Bitzer and he were shaking hands with an exaggerated serious expression(_heh, funny)_. The other at its right showed them playing together with the ball like nothing happened.—And that was how the conflict of that day ended, by sorting things out and teaming up so they could retrieve the ball with what would be one of Shaun's first complicated plans to save the day.

Though a nostalgic smile had formed on his face, he still had to arch a brow at his aunt.— Again, very nice to remember, but kind of not getting the point here.

“Baa.” She started, finally explaining things. She tapped the photo where they were shaking hands and then waved a hoof towards where the sheepdog was. “Baa baa baa, baa baa! Baa baa baa.”

Once her speech was finished, Timmy's mom placed the book on her lap and instantly noticed the absence of her son. Her panic got replaced by relief when she saw the lamb across the field bleating eagerly to a confused Bitzer. Even at his short age, his son was able to notice when someone in the farm wasn't happy, and wanted to be of help if it was on his reach. This wasn't, but Timmy was so eager to try cheering Shaun and Bitzer up with games and colorful stickers that she couldn't get herself to tell him that far more than that was needed for this.

Looking towards where Bitzer was, Shaun sighed through his nostrils and nodded before hugging his legs.— _He knew_.

But 'talking things out' wasn't really their thing. In the few cases where they actually had time to remain angry at the other in the middle of a problem, it never lasted that long and it was usually for silly things, so the whole 'talking' never had to happen. If it was something more upsetting, by simply buying a pizza or doing favors to compensate you could be considered forgiven.

Having to talk it out meant that it was something serious, it meant that a line was crossed and the problem couldn't be treated as fixed until actually addressed properly.

It was an obvious solution, one that Shaun had been dodging thinking about all day in order to not feel bad about how much damage was done by his curiosity, about how he couldn't see himself able to fix things this time, not soon at least.

But on top of all, he was scared of facing Bitzer after, for once, actually having thought about the possible consequences.

With half lidded eyes Shaun observed how Timmy grabbed the sheepdog's wrist to drag him towards his chair in the field. Any attempts at opposing to his paw being wrapped in kilos of bandages instantly died down the moment Bitzer's behind touched the well-known surface. Shaun smiled amused at how fast his best friend had given up and melted against his chair— _Silly dog_.

That was Bitzer: a strict, never-resting dog whom's ego was a bit too high, but that genuinely cared and was willing to do the craziest stuff just to keep the flock safe and happy(or at least just the first one).

The sheep's ears and smile dropped as another sigh left him. When his sad gaze meet the sheet of stickers Timmy forgot next to him(seeing smiley faces and other simple forms), Shaun couldn't help but slowly run his hoof along it, only putting his attention on the little red hearts. That funny feeling appeared in his cheeks once more, and Shaun had to push it away in order to stop it from hurting.

Panic ended doing that for him when Shaun turned his head to find his aunt arching a brow at what had him so interested. The heat in his face suddenly became more intense, and he was quick to take the photo album from her hooves in hopes that flipping through random pages would put both his and his aunt's attention elsewhere.

Through the ewe looked confused(and a bit offended, judging by the way she placed her now empty hooves on her hips and gave him a look), she didn't take long to fall for Shaun's distraction of pointing out that some of the photos in the book were in the wrong order.

The rest of the day was basically spent on reorganizing the album, which Shaun wasn't that much into at first, but the memory-trip and his aunt's organizing skills made easier to get by. It became more entertaining once Timmy came back, wanting to use the stickers he forgot there to adorn the book a bit.

Between remembering old moments and putting stars, smiley faces and such where they fitted the best, Shaun didn't notice neither the farmer coming back nor the sky turning orange giving away that his chances to talk to Bitzer were slowly slipping away.

\----

When the last chance to talk extended its hand, Shaun wasn't able to reach for it.

He couldn't.Not when all the courage he had gathered disappeared the moment he saw Bitzer leaning against the fence gate, tensed and barely looking at the flock as they went back to the barn. Not when when Shaun passed by, Bitzer shrank in his place, his ears lowering and the scribbling in his checklist suddenly becoming more worth of his attention than finishing the last chore of the day.

At the end the only thing Shaun could do was close the barn's gate himself, doing his best to ignore the worried glances from the flock and the lump in his throat waiting to worsen things up.

He had to, because he didn't know that before the door closed behind him, a pair of sad eyes had looked at his back, a bandaged paw had once more stretched in his direction...only to draw back at realizing it was too late.

Shaun found himself improvising a bed on the loft that night, quiet and alone and not bothering to wipe his face off when wet drops began falling onto his pillow minutes after the lights went out.

From his doghouse, Bitzer suddenly felt the guilt becoming even heavier.

\----

It was surprising how even though sleep had not be kind to him last night(leaving him bags that practically screamed it to the world), Shaun was able to play around with the same energy as ever. Considering he woke up to the great feeling of being able to move freely with nearly no pain, it was obvious he would take the chance to do everything he couldn't yesterday.

Seeing him come back to his usual ways helped cease the flock's worry, so this new day could go by fine and normally(as normal as their days could be at least). _Yes_, he and Bitzer still hadn't had a word and _yes_, Timmy's mom had given him a couple of looks for that(but with no pressure, she knew Shaun wasn't a lamb anymore and was free to take his own questionable decisions on his own). That was fine though; compared to yesterday, Bitzer seemed less obsessed with work, and even got called out by the farmer for getting distracted with a bone a couple times! If that wasn't a signal that maybe things could go back to normal with just a little time, he didn't know what it was.

A voice in the back of his head kept telling him it was better to actually talk instead, but Shaun was having problems hearing it in the middle of the frisbee match.

The leader of the flock jumped to grab the yellow object flying his way. Through not as good as usual, with natural ability he was able to give it a little spin in his hoof before throwing in towards the older twin(or was it the younger?). The lack of sleep made itself obvious when Shaun accidentally misled the throw towards Nuts, who too occupied looking at a butterfly passing by didn't notice the frisbee flying over his head.

The twins and Shaun blinked as the object landed on a branch of the field's tree. A second later the younger sheep could feel the stares on the back of his neck telling him to go get it. He clicked his tongue while rolling his eyes, slightly annoyed, but still went to comply with the task.

As Shaun got close he could spot a grunting bird peeking out of the leafs, one wig rubbing its head and the other holding the frisbee. The bird hastily threw it away(_far_ _far_ _away_) in direction to the farmer's house, and Shaun once more had to roll his eyes. He caught sight of Hasel giving him an empathetic(if not amused) look as he turned heels to go get the dumb thing once and for all.

After a couple tugs here and there, the frisbee finally ended his journey by rolling into the laundry room. Poking his head around the open door, Shaun spotted it lying flat just a mere meter away from his spot. Now he just needed to grab it, run back to playing and that's it,_ piece of cake_.

But between all the objects randomly thrown through the old-looking room, there stood a problem.

A big, blonde, covered in fur problem.

Bitzer was right there, giving his back to the door and taking out damp clothes out of the dishwasher to put them in a basket. He had headphones on and, judging by the way his head kept bouncing and his lower paw tapped the floor at some rhythm, he was too immersed in the music to notice any presence behind him.

Shaun looked between the object and the sheepdog, unsure of what to do. Bitzer was distracted, if he was quick he could still grab the frisbee and save them from any awkward meeting to come. With a determined nod, the sheep decided to follow that plan.

Fate was against him apparently, because the moment his hooves touched his objective a gust of wind abruptly closed the door behind him.

Shaun saw with widened eyes how Bitzer stopped moving to the music.— Okay, _it was fine_. He'll just step back towards the door, reach the knob with his hoof and...

It didn't open.

The leader of the flock turned around to move the knob with more desperation, quickly forgetting about the frisbee and resorting to hitting it with his shoulder in hopes of getting it to give in, but it didn't.

“_Rraw?”_

Shaun turned his head maybe a bit too fast, his sheep in the headlights expression showing without his consent. Bitzer had his headphones in his paws, frown showing confusion instead of the expected anger.

With the device forgotten over the laundry machine, Bitzer got close to the door and pushed Shaun aside(a puffed chest and closed eyes making the sheep roll his eyes at his friend's extra-ness). The sheepdog took impulse to push the door with his shoulder and...a loud whimper could be heard as he crashed against the wood with no results.

While Bitzer rubbed his arm to cease the pain, Shaun picked up the frisbee again and started walking towards the other door so they could at least try to leave though the main door of the house(maybe he could grab a snack since he was there, if Bitzer didn't catch him of course).

Lucky he! It was closed too.

Shaun huffed, and decided to start looking for a solution around the room when he heard Bitzer barking and hitting the door in order to call for help. He spotted the window a few steps away, got close to it, but quickly came to the conclusion that it was not one that could be opened, and was way too tall in the wall for anyone outside to see them.

Unamused by all this, he looked at the frisbee in his hoof and sighed. Well, _he finally got it at least..._

When Bitzer's barks stopped, Shaun turned to find him already biting his claws at the idea of being trapped there. The sheepdog looked at him with begging eyes, but Shaun could only shrug at being drained out of ideas to get out. The flock was way far in the field to heard them and the farmer was outside in town; until one of them noticed their absence, there was no way to leave the room.

Or maybe he just hadn't thought hard enough. Difficult to do with only a few hours of sleep on but still possible! There should be a way, _there had too_, because at any moment Bitzer may start suspecting why he hadn't thought of something yet and the less thing Shaun wanted to do was call attention.

While Shaun placed a hoof under his chin for further thinking, Bitzer passed his paws through his face as a soft growl left him—_Great, just great_. He slumped against the door, sliding his back until he was sitting, and that made Shaun realize he wanted to take a sit too.

And that was it, that was what pulled the trigger.

A face of discomfort escaped out of him the moment his butt touched the floor and Shaun had to rub it, annoyed for still not being able to sit in peace. At that same moment he noticed that Bitzer saw it, _he __recognized why it was._

Both of them saw their own horror reflected in the other's eyes.

Okay _no_, he was wrong; there was a way to leave the room: the window was fragile, by just throwing any of the objects in the room to it they could easily shatter it, climb to a box and get out of there! They'll be outside, go on with that they were doing and successfully avoid the elephant in the room for another day.

But that would mean ignoring another unique chance, one that could let them to finally sort things out,_ get them to talk again_.

Shaun was having a hard time deciding what to do, and the usual silence that would help him to think was now only making things worse. When he saw Bitzer lower his head and taking a deep breath before opening his mouth, Shaun feared at what would come out of it.

Instead of anger, coldness or anything in those lines, Shaun heard something unexpected.

He heard an 'I'm sorry'.

Confusion, and blinking eyes were Shaun's only reaction.— _Why was he apologizing?_

The sheepdog repeated the words, over and over again mixed with other things that behind paws covering his own face only came as altered babbling. Shaun didn't take a moment to wonder anything, he couldn't when the sight of his friend curled up and shaking his head in shame was the only thing in his mind.

Leaving the frisbee forgotten on the floor, Shaun got up and slowly walked towards his still-babbling friend. He tried to bleat him to calm down, waving his hooves along to express his concern, but sighed through his nostrils at seeing it didn't work. As a plan B, he knelt down and took Bitzer's wrist to get them off his eyes, instantly noticing familiar heavy bags showing the dog's lack of sleep.

Everything stopped for a moment when Bitzer fell silent, blinking at him with slightly watered eyes that indicated being at the edge of crying. The sight broke Shaun's heart, and so he shook his head to reassure his friend. He released one of the mutt's wrist to point at himself with a sad smile_\- He should be the one to apologize._

It was something to expect. Dogs did that when they felt sad(or wanted to manipulate you), but the sad puppy eyes Bitzer accidentally did when he lowered his head took Shaun completely of guard. Through he didn't want to, he blushed, and grinned sheepishly at noticing he was still holding Bitzer's wrist. He ignored his thumb missing the contact with the pads when he let go, concentrating only in being careful when he leaned his back against the wall next to the door and sat down.

A few seconds went by in silence, Shaun looking at the ceiling while Bitzer fidgeted with his paws(seeming concentrated in something about his pads). Finally, Shaun took a deep breath, looked at his friend with his head tilted and bleated the question that he should have long ago. The gesture was met with the sheepdog straightening and, after a pause, giving a firm nod to indicate he was prepared.

And so with that, they talked about what happened.

It started out embarrassing and with neither of them able to look at the other in the eye, but the subject became easier to handle as it moved forward. Shaun admitted that _mayyybe_ he shouldn't have stuck his nose where he was told not to, and with the help of crossed arms and arched brows he got Bitzer to confess that he should have also paid attention to the sheep instead of being distracted(he knew how they all were already! Not keeping an eye on them was like asking for chaos to ensue). Besides of that, no other apologies had to be made; all the blame went towards hormones and so declared that they had no control over it. It was just —as hurtful as it sounded— _a simple accident with no real meaning._

Between all the things left unmentioned, Shaun tried hard to hide that he had been grateful for the help back then, that he was not as regretful as he should for what happened. He felt bad about the damage that came out of it, but the night itself...it felt like it was the only glimpse Shaun could get to something he wanted(but knew couldn't obtain). It was selfish to feel like that, and the only thing those thoughts did were gather a horrible mix of hope, guilt and sadness in his stomach at knowing it was all behind the back of someone who didn't feel the same way.

So he had to keep quiet. Ignore his hope for more, call the feeling anything else, and accept that by simply being friends he still could be happy. For Shaun, it was fine that way.

It had to be.

Yesterday's album pictures came to Shaun's mind when the conversation appeared to be reaching an end, and at that moment the sheep realized that there couldn't be more perfect way to seal everything. So he knelt to straighten myself, extending one firm hoof to Bitzer to end things as they did back then.

“Baa?” There was doubt in his voice, but he still tried to smile as unawkwardly as possible.

With a simple handshake, it all would be it. They would forget what happened and everything would go back to normal. No awkwardness, no avoiding each other...

And no more expecting something to come out of that night.

Shaun almost drew his hoof back at the thought, but forced it to stay in place. He couldn't back out, Bitzer was already staring at it in.

Finally, after what felt like eternity of deep thinking, Bitzer knelt too, the smile in his face strangely looking empty but still moving his paw towards the hoof. Shaun looked away from it as he awaited for the contact to give an end to everything.

...it never came.

At mere millimeters from his hoof, the paw stopped. Shaun blinked confused as Bitzer seemed lost in his thoughts again. A sad frown formed in his face and, after a moment, the paw started to tremble under the sheepdog's harsh gaze. He finally dropped it along with his head with a huff of defeat. Bitzer shook his head—_He couldn't._

More than once Bitzer had trusted Shaun's plans to fix things up, he knew his friend was able to make things turn out right at the end most of the time but...he also knew that both had a different vision of 'what felt right' for this. Simply going back to normal didn't for Bitzer, because he couldn't allow another accident from happening because he couldn't control how he felt...so as 'not right'(but also right) as this felt, it was for the best to do it.

“B-baa...?” Shaun didn't mean to stutter, he didn't mean for his ears to lower and show his uneasiness. Bitzer negated the deal, he was backing up and Shaun feared the possibility of the worst coming out of it.

The movement was slow, tentative, but Shaun still flinched when Bitzer hold a paw up again. This time it was the other, and it was being held in a way that it showed all his palm towards the sheep. Shaun had to arch a brow— There was no way they could shake hands that way...maybe he wanted to do a high five?. With his confusion, all he managed to do was raise a doubtful hoof and tilt his head at wondering why his friend looked so determined and hesitant at the same time.

This time contact came, but not in the way expected.

Bitzer's smaller pads touched the base of his palm, and Shaun could feel his own breath getting heavier when they kept moving upwards. He would have drawn it back by mere confusion if he wasn't so hypnotized by the way his hoof followed the movement in such a natural way.

When Bitzer paw stopped, so it did everything around them.

Shaun blinked down at the palms in contact. Somehow after all this time, he still managed to be in awe at seeing how his hoof was...really small compared to Bitzer's. The tip of it barely reached half of the dog's fingers...

The logical thing to do would be to question his friend actions, ask what this was supposed to mean, but all Shaun managed to do was to look at Bitzer with a curious shine in his pupils. Bitzer shrugged, only giving a shy smile as an answer— To be honest, he himself didn't even know what he was doing.

Shaun's heart accelerated at the sight, and he had to avert his gaze back down only to blush as a realization hit. This was way apart from being a friendly handshake; _ they were a step away from holding hands._

No like any of them were against it.

But was it possible? For a sheep and a dog to hold hands?—The tip of his hoof twitched the slightest bit against the empty spaces. He never really stopped to wonder about it, and now that he was he felt a sudden eagerness to find out(though he couldn't quite blame it on simple curiosity).

At the end, he succumbed to what his gut was telling him and slowly, as if he was not sure of the movement, Shaun interlocked fingers with Bitzer. The sheepdog had to hold back a flinch and a sound of surprise, but didn't hesitate to return the gesture and wrap up around the hoof.

Shaun smiled—_ They could._

Just like puzzle pieces, the two 'fingers' of his hoof fit perfectly between Bitzer's like they belonged there, even though these pieces were not from the same set.

Shaun wondered how such different parts could fit together so well.

To look back at Bitzer was like directly gazing at the sun. He was smiling with such brightness, looking at the interlocked paw/hoof as if it they were the most precious thing for him. Shaun could only smile and softly shake his head when he caught sight of the yellow waggling tail. Deep inside, Bitzer was still the same happy puppy that went euphoric at the simplest of things.

But well, it wasn't like Shaun could talk. Even though yesterday they had been as close as they could physically get, this still felt like they were stepping into a new, strange but nice tier of closeness. Shaun was at peace, happy that he didn't have to worry about things turning awkward all of sudden, and it was obvious that the butterflies in his stomach were going crazy by now.

“...Ruff ruff?” Shaun looked up as Bitzer practically whispered, like if he feared his voice would ruin the moment.

With a soft smile on his face he nodded, giving a reassuring squish to the paw in his hoof.—Yeah,_ all good._

Bitzer smiled and returned the gesture. It felt as if a lot had been said with just that, and that made the upcoming seconds of silence not awkward at all, but nice and peaceful and-

-easily got dropped thanks to the farmer wondering where his dog was.

Bitzer straightened at the whistling automatically. His gaze exchanged between his paw and the door, grimacing for a long thoughtful moment before having to huff and letting go of the sheep's hoof. After the initial confusion, Shaun found himself pouting while crossing his arms as if he was a child.

The peaceful atmosphere from a moment ago quickly got replaced by frenetic barks and loud knocks on the door that the sheepdog kept doing as if his life depended on it. Shaun blinked at remembering that _right_, they were trapped there.

Luckily the farmer had not been that far and was able to hear all the racket. Shaun was quick to go hide behind some boxes next to the dishwasher when the door trembled in an attempt to be opened. It didn't, so the farmer's cursing was expected to be heard.

After more struggle the old door decided to surrender and Bitzer instantly threw himself to hug his owner in gratitude. A surprised 'oh!' from the man could be heard, and then some barks of Bitzer explaining what had happened(the farmer obviously wouldn't understand him, but the gestures the mutt was probably making would do). Shaun peaked his head to catch sight of the farmer moving the door with a frown and of Bitzer coming back for the clothes' basket. He had to go back into hiding when the sheepdog gestured him with a paw to do so.

At the end the farmer had decided to leave the door as it was for today, and Shaun couldn't be more grateful for the man's laziness deciding to show up today. He got off his hiding spot, but stopped mid-way towards the door at remembering the frisbee. He quickly retrieved it from its spot in the floor and went out, squinting his eyes and blinking as his eyes readjusted to the amount of light. The clothes were already hanging in the clothes line, which meant Bitzer was not far away tipping that out of his checklist.

His suspicions got confirmed when peeking from the edge of the wall he caught sight of him looking at the farmer outside the entrance door. The man was inspecting dog's checklist with a doubious look, and Bitzer was sweating nervously.

“Meh.” The farmer said shrugging. He dismissively waved the checklist towards the field and that was enough for Bitzer to smile and start waggling his tail. Understable, he just got excused a few chores after all.

Shaun's gaze went from the man closing the door behind him to Bitzer giving him his back and the sheep grinned mischievously. He tiptoed towards the dog, quick but silent to not ruin his plan, and stopped right behind him. The sheepdog from his part finished giving a last look to his checklist and turned around with a smug smile, only to come face to face with Shaun.

Or nose to nose, actually.

Maybe he got a little too close, Shaun didn't have more than a second to wonder that before the sheepdog bited back a yelp and flapped his arms in a vain attempt to not fall into his butt. While Bitzer failed with the last part, Shaun only managed blink as his hoof curiously ghosted around that spot of his face that just got wet by Bitzer's nose.

Shaun's hoof then went to slightly cover his chuckles as his gaze landed on the sheepog on the floor. Bitzer's hat ended covering his eyes when he tried to sat up and it was an amusing sight. The sore sheepdog showed his disagreement by moving his hat to glare and growl at the sheep.

The chuckles stopped, but a smile still remained there.—_He had missed this._

Suddenly remembering the object in his hoof, Shaun twisted the frisbee in the air and pointed towards the field.

'“Baa-aa?”' The tone he used to ask Bitzer to join the game may've sounded a little too eager, but he actually wanted to spend time with the dog.

Thankfully the sheepdog didn't see through him and nodded with a grin. After helping him get up, both of them began walking towards their destination. Shaun noticed his steps had a soft jumpiness that showed happiness, and though Bitzer tried to hide it, his wagging tail made obvious that he was feeling the same too.

None of the playmates had moved from their spots when they arrived. Even Nuts, who wasn't even playing, was standing still with butterflies covering his body and one of the twins looking at him with awe. Judging by the way the other twin was looking at an imaginary watch in his wrist with impatience, Bitzer and him had probably been away for a while. Shaun could only give sheepish grin at the upcoming bleats of doubt/complaint, but luckily Bitzer's presence distracted them from that.

There were no questions to avoid this time, only welcoming waves to the new player and a game that went by quite normal. Shaun had noticed both his aunt's satisfied nodding and the grin in Timmy's face from afar, and honestly, by seeing Bitzer giving him high fives like they would usually do, he couldn't agree more with them.

Things were back to normal, but not quite it. That evening when they were alone outside the barn, when in the middle of joking around Bitzer had accidentally said something that sounded like a pick up line and Shaun had laughed even though it was _so cheesy_, he knew that some changes were beginning to appear.

Those changes may come big or small, some more subtle than others, and in whatever form they came, Shaun knew he'll enjoy each one of them, happy and patiently waiting for the day when both of them _can call it love._


End file.
